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403 forbidden error access Central Administration web application

Question

I inherited this farm from someone recently and I get a 403 forbidden error trying to access central admin via IP or DNS name. It appears the browser is able to connect to the site but I don't have permissions.

I am an admin on the server, and I checked the permissions of the directory for the web application, added my account because I noticed my predecessor had his own account in there, but no dice (though I have not rebooted the server or done an IIS reset yet.

I did notice the port in IIS is different than the port of the directory for this web app that I see in inetpub.

I've read a lot of different things, some of them not so good about this issue. Different things solved it for some, but not others. I've also heard it's a corrupted web application, but I'm not so sure, as I am able to connect to the site but not authenticate.

You said that "It appears the browser is able to connect to the site but I don't have permissions."

What is the meaning of "It
appears the browser is able to connect to the site'? Check whether other users such as farm account can access CA. Run CA as administrator and compare the results.
You said that "I checked the permissions of the directory for the web application, added my account"

Since you cannot access to Central Administration , how do you check the permissions of the directory for the web application and add your account?

You said that "I did notice the port in IIS is different than the port of the directory for this web app that I see in inetpub. "

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Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they helped. If you have feedback for TechNet Subscriber Support, contact
tnmff@microsoft.com.

SharePoint Server 2019 has been released, you can click
here to download it.
Click here to learn new features. Visit the dedicated
forum to
share, explore and talk to experts about SharePoint Server 2019.